Snow conveyer



May 23, 1950 A. LAMY I 2,508,829

SNOW CONVEYER Filed April 6, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet l 61 flz'marztlfa Attorneys Inventor y 1950 A. LAMY 2,508,829

snow CONVEYER Filed April e, 1948 s Sheets-Sheet 2 6 JH I m 2 a w 7 1 1 M y 1950 A. LAMY' 2,508,829

SNOW CONVEYER Filed April 6, 1948 3 Shee'ts-Sheet'S Inventor izdfam @fl Patented May 23, 1950 SNOW CONVEYER Armand Lamy, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as-

signor of one-half to Ubald Boisvert, Montreal,

Quebec, Canada Application April 6, 1948, Serial No. 19,251 In Canada April 21, 1947 4 Claims.

The present invention relates to snow handling means and, more particularly, snow gathering and conveying means for road clearing purposes.

The primary object of the invention resides in the provision of snow conveying means of highly eilicient nature for the purpose in view.

Another important object is the provision of a snow conveyor especially calculated to remove drifted or banked snow from the edges of roads and streets.

A further object contemplates a self-driven snow conveying device adapted to be propelled by a suitable vehicle for clearing rapidly snow banks and drifts and loading the resulting snow into a suitable vehicle.

Still another object concerns a snow conveyor of the character defined which is rugged, of simple construction and, hence, easy to service.

A still further object of the invention envisages a snow conveying unit of versatile character, light in weight and relatively inexpensive.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent, or be pointed out further, during the description to follow.

As an example, and for purposes of illustration only, an embodiment of the invention is shown in the annexed drawings wherein:

Figure l is a front elevational view of the apparatus according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical section taken through said apparatus;

Figure 3 is a plan view thereof;

Figure 4 is a side elevation view with the gear box cover broken away to show the arrangement of the gear train;

' Figure 5 is a longitudinal vertical section taken through the apparatus;

Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken through the apparatus to show the snow conveyin means;

Figure"? is a front elevation of one snow comminuting impeller;

Figure 8 is a side elevation thereof; and

Figure 9 is a vertical section taken on line 9-8 of Figure 5.

Referring to the drawings wherein similar reference characters represent corresponding parts throughout, the reference letter C indicates generally the main casing of the apparatus, which casing is constituted of side walls l0, bottom wall H and a back wall 52, the casing being adapted to be supported in front of a suitable propelling vehicle and resting on the ground over runners or the like l3. The casing .C is supported as'a complete unit, from the truck or other suitable vehicle indicated by the letter T, by means of a pair of arms I 5 extending rearwardly from the casing, at the sides thereof, said arms being bushed at E6 over shaft l8 secured directly onto the frame F of said truck. (See Figures 3 and 4.) For raising the casing from the ground, whenever it is undesirable to let said casing rest on its runners 83, means are provided for performing this raising operation, which means consist of brackets l1 pivoted to the shaft i 8, said brackets being further clamped under the vehicle front axle A (Fig. 2) and formed with an end offset projection 22, said projection having pivoted thereto a hydraulic cylinder or the like l9 connected also to the forward end of arm l5- and communicating, by means such as the pipes 20, with a source of hydraulic pressure on the vehicle. Consequently the piston rod 2| extending from the cylinder can be extended or retracted at will so as to elevate or lower the casing end,

of the arms l5 and, thus, move said casing correspondingly in order that it may cope with unexpected or particular conditions of the roads to be cleared.

As shown to advantage in Figures 1, 2 and 5,

the open-fronted casing is provided with a ver-' tical partition 25 extending across, and adjacent to, the mouth of said casing so as to define with the rear wall l2 and the top wall 26 an enclosure sub-divided into a plurality of separate chambers as will be explained later on. For snow admitting purposes, however, the partition 25 is provided with a bottom side rectangular aperture 21, said aperture opening into a longitudinal cylindrical duct 30 formed by the tubular mem--:. 'ber 3| extending completely across the side walls It as shown in Figures 5 and 6.

A shaft 35, longitudinally journalled in the a center of the ducts in bearings 36 mounted in the" side walls In, carries a strip 31 wound helicoidally therearound in edgewise position, said strip and shaft forming together an endless archimedean screw or worm W. This worm is actuated by' means of a gear 38 mounted on an extension of the shaft 35 projecting outside one side wall ID i which gear meshes with an idler gear 39, said idler gear being driven by the drive pinion 40 from a source of power to be described later on. The object of the worm just described is to displace from left to the right the snow entering the duct 7 30 through the aperture 27 for that purpose the pitch of the helix as well as the direction of rotation are calculated with that object in view.

To the right end of the duct 30 there is con- .nected a vertical discharge cylindrical duct 3 which is open, at its upper end, above the casing top 26. This discharge duct 50 is adapted to receive an endless screw or worm 5|, in all respects similar to the worm W, this second worm 5! being mounted on a shaft 52 driven from the shaft 35 through the intermediary of bevel gears 53, .58 disposed in a gear -box 54 properly supported on the floor I I of the casing by means of a pillar or the like 55. This gear-box serves also to locate the shaft 52 in the center of the duct 50 and to journal the same at its lower end, the upper end being journalled into a bearing 56 properly supported by the spider 51. The said spider is in turn supported within a pipe extension 60 having a lower flange 6| rotatably mounted over a ball bearing 52 carried at the top of casing 10; the extension 60 is held in alignment with the duct 50 by means of a flanged collar 63 so as to be rotatable with respect to the said duct for a purpose to be explained later -lim ed-lately below the duct 50, beyond the worm W, a blade impeller 65 is: provided on each side of thegear-box 54, said impeller as shown in Figure 9 consisting of diametrally aligned or less one within the other. adjustment is efiectuated, as is obvious, by means of the arouate bar 68 shown in Figure 1.

For the purpose of comminuting, or disintegrating, ice formations, packed snow lumps or other hard agglomeration which may tend to prevent the free flowing of snow into the aperture 21, means are provided in front of said aperture in the form of comminuting rotary blades disposed across the lower part of the casing mouth. For that purpose, shafts T0 are spacedly supported horizontally across the casing and suitably mounted in. bearings on the side walls Ill. The said shafts extend to the left past the side walls In and are provided with gears H and 12 meshing together so that the shafts are adapted to rotate in opposite directions. The rotary movement is imparted to gear 1 l' by means of an idler gear 13 meshing with the first idler 39 already described. The several ears constituting the gear train mounted to the left of the casing are suitably enclosed within a tight cover 15 forming a sort of a gear-box adapted to hold a suit able lubricant and to protect the gears against dirtand other abrasive foreign materials. .As shown to advantage in Figures 1, 2 and .6, the comminuting means consist of a plurality of rotors mounted on the shafts 10, each of saidrotors including a hub 80 and a number of blades projecting radially therefrom. As shown in Figure 8 the said blades are inclined with respect to the blade of the hub, said inclination being calculated to force the snow or other ice formations to the left, that is: toward the opening 21. Although the said blades 8i are shown arranged in a common plane, it is also within the spirit of the invention that they be slightly oifset from each other so as to resemble a worm screw. Thus, the blades 8| having a sharpened edge, their rotation in opposite directions will disintegrate hard snow or ice formations that may be in the path of the apparatus and reduce said formations to a state such that they can be conveniently handled by the worm W for displacement to the right into the duct 50.

The mechanism described so far is actuated by a gasoline engine G acting as a source of power said engine being suitably connected to the driving pinion 40 and supported within the casing C. behind the partition 25 and above the duct 30, on a suitable frame 82. Inasmuch as liquid cooling is convenient for an engine so enclosed, a radiator may be disposed at the front end of the engine and the air of circulation for said radiator drawn through a grill or the like aperture 86 the back wall [2, the heated air being exhausted through louvers or the like 81 formed in said back wall immediately next to the engine. Immediately below the top 26 of the casing a fuel reservoir 90 can be disposed which may be filled through the filling aperture 9|, the said fuel being fed to the engine in any suitable manner; From the foregoing description 'it should be evident that the mechanism described is self contained, simple and efficient for the purpose in view: it is especially adaptable for the side clear-mg of city streets where the snow accumulation are generally loaded :in suitable vehicles .and carted away. Consequently, the jointed arrangement of the outlet elbow at the top of. pipe 65 is especially intended for such loading, the same being rotatable with a minimum of friction over the bearings 62 and movable at will by means of the levers extending through slots of the collar 63.

The operation of the apparatus should be fairly obvious from the drawings and description given so far: as the said. apparatus is propelled forwardly by the vehicle T, into snow accumulations or banks, the rotating blades '81 will first contact said snow and tend to force the same in the casing by virtue of their inclination. At the same time, the motion of said blades will impart to the snow a leftward movement so as to force the snow through the aperture 21 where the worm W will move it to the right inside the duct 30. The blades 8| are also intended to break, or disintegrate, hard formations in the snow so as to comminute same and render the resultant mass fluid enough to be handled by the worm. Thereafter, the snow or comminuted ice is conveyed by the worms W and 5!- into the jointed elbow for disposal in any suitable manner.

More specifically, the mechanism of the invention is adapted to move large volumes of snow at relatively low velocity: this is in contrast to the rotary type of snow-plow embodying centrifugal members adapted to project snow with great force at a certain distance. Whereas the last typeis particularly useful in the open country, or where adjacent the road to be cleared is available, the present snow conveyor is especially useful for displacing snow from the side of streets and other congested areas to vehicles running alongside the conveyor or in cramped ofi spaces near the said streets. Due to the structural arrangements disclosed, the operation of the device is efiicient, relatively simple, and the direction of snow discharge, as well as its volume, is at all times under perfect control of the operator.

It must, be understood that the changes as to the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A snow conveyor comprising a casing having a back, sides, top and bottom but, open at the front, a vertical partition inside the casing behind the open front and substantially parallel with the back, said partition having a large opening at the bottom left thereof, a cylindrical horizontal duct behind the bottom of the partition and opening at one end into the opening of the partition, a shaft rotatable axially in said duct, a worm screw mounted on said shaft, a vertical duct also behind the partition and connecting with the top right end of the horizontal duct, a worm screw rotatable axially in said vertical duct, a gear box between the meeting ends of the horizontal and vertical Worms for operatively connecting said worms together, a pair of shafts oppositely rotatable across the casing in front of the partition opening, inclined blades mounted radially 0n hubs secured to said shafts, and means for driving the horizontal worm and shafts from a source of motive power,

2. In a snow conveyor as claimed in claim 1, radial paddles on the horizontal screw shaft, below the vertical duct and on each side of the gear box, a tube extension projecting out of the vertical duct, means for rotating said tube with respect to the duct, and a jointed elbow at the free end of said tube.

3. In a snow conveyor as claimed in claim 1, the means for driving the horizontal worm and lades shafts comprising a gear train on the left of the casing, and a cover enclosing said gears.

4. In a snow conveyor as claimed in claim 1, the source of motive power consisting of an internal combustion engine mounted in the casing and behind the partition above the horizontal duct, and means for admitting cooling air thereto.

ARMAND LAMY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 87,989 Tierney Mar. 16, 1869 400,154 Williams Mar. 26, 1889 1,676,823 Gault July 10, 1928 2,116,945 Hitchens May 10, 1938 2,166,667 Watkins July 18, 1939 2,390,286 Adams Dec. 4, 1945 

